Beer Throwing Bike Bros in Vegas
What happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas, before Instagram, Facebook, or whatever other network people are socializing on. What I can tell you about the beer throwing and drunken debauchery that occurred is a story, and example…
With a new camera, I was focused on shooting and getting the shot, like this one.
Also had just raced with the Wheelers and Dealers and placed 12th in the media category while Matt in Hugga kit was 3rd. I didn't see any of the beer throwing, but did see people on the course setting out money. Later, with a few laps to go in the VIP area, there was a way over-the-top heckler. I wondered at the time what skinny bike racers ever did to this guy to make him so angry at them. The next morning he was in a media meeting I had with a major clothing brand. I restrained myself from yelling
You designed the worst apparel line I've ever seen.
Did you phone this piece into a China factory from your shitty cubicle?
Your colorway is uglier than the hangover I have.
So we hold our annual gathering in a city that has a reputation (and even a marketing campaign) based around misbehaving. For most shops, this is their one party of the year.
We take these young shop guys and give them free beer and have them line up next to a starting line. We run crits on roads without anyone to stop drunken spectators from walking into bicycles. And then we wonder in amazement, get mad, and soul search when things go wrong.
In any other sport wandering onto the field or throwing things at the athletes would get you ejected, if not arrested. In Vegas, though, we sort of laugh it off and then a few months later we all ask ourselves why more European pros don't show up at our ‘cross races.
Cycling needs to grow up. If we want to have people take bikes and bike racing seriously, then we have to take ourselves seriously first.
Because straight up, my impression of a bike-brand employee/heckler is he’s not serious at all, not professional. Instead, he’s a drunk-ass punk.
Footnote: I wasn't aware of the scope of the beer-throwing controversy or that it was being thrown from the Giro tent, after a late night and early flight back home, until Prolly thought I was tweeting about him, and told me to shut up about it. Since this story broke, Giro has issued a statement expressing regret and admitting to not addressing the behavior in their VIP area.
Finally, this story was not about Giro, I met with another brand the next day.
